1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a damper-mounting structure in which a damper for buffering the vertical movement of a suspension arm or a knuckle of a suspension is mounted to a vehicle body.
2. Description of the Related Art
A damper-mounting structure in which an upper portion of a damper of an automobile is supported on a vehicle body is known from Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-186738 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 10-273073.
In the damper-mounting structure described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-186738, an upper spring bearing for receiving an upper end of a coil spring of the damper is mounted on an inner surface of a tire house or wheel well, and an upper end of a piston rod of the damper is passed through the upper spring bearing from below to above and fixed by a nut from above the wheel well.
In the damper-mounting structure described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 10-273073, a bracket mounted on an inner surface of a wheel well and an upper end of a piston rod of the damper are fixed to one another by a bolt passed through the upper end of the piston rod in a direction perpendicular to an axis of the piston rod.
When the upper end of the damper is mounted to the inner surface of a wheel well formed of a thin plate material, the following problem is encountered: the wheel well is flexed by a load input from the damper, resulting in a reduction in responsiveness of the damper. To solve this problem, it is conventional to superimpose a reinforcing member on the wheel well, but there is a problem that the reinforcing member increases the weight of the vehicle. In addition, the damper and a vehicle body frame are arranged side by side in a lateral direction of the vehicle body, and thus it is difficult to ensure sufficient space for disposition of the damper, while avoiding interference with the vehicle body frame.
In addition, the damper-mounting structure described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-186738 has the following problem: a worker retains the damper within the wheel well, and another worker affixes the upper end of the piston rod to the wheel well from above. Therefore, this structure requires two workers, resulting in a poor working efficiency.
Further, the damper-mounting structure described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 10-273073 has the following problem: in a state in which a worker has retained the damper within the wheel well and has positioned a bolt bore in a bracket and a bolt bore in the upper end of the piston rod of the damper, it is necessary to align the bolt bores and to insert the bolt through the bolt bores. Therefore, it is difficult for the worker to retain the damper in one hand and to insert the bolt through the bolt bores with the other hand. Accordingly, the worker is required to have a high level of skill and manual dexterity to perform this operation.